Retro Bicycle Thread

[quintonb]

That bike is a keeper.

Bill Lange made about 200 custom, bespoke frames. The frames that you will find will more often than not be very large frames or very small. He is considered one of SA's best frame builders.

The one LooseCog gave me is made from Reynolds 653 tubing.

 

The name De'Lange is a play on words. It's actually a name of a Col in France, the Col de Lange (say with French accent). The meaning of the word (loosely translated) means mountain of angels,or something to that effect. If you look closely at the logo/crest headbadge you will see it looks like an angel. Angel wings and a chainring as a halo. The legendary Ron Thompson was involved with Bill and came up with the logo/badge and the name del'ange. I bought a set of original decals from Ron a whole ago. I now need to restore the frame.

[Barry_W]

Lovely bike Barry. De Lange often made custom bikes so your's may even have been made for the original owner as situated in the Cape

 

I reckone your bike to be mid 80's.

Check BB lug to see if any telltale signs.

Thanks Loose cog,

 

There is a number on the bb, no idea what it might mean.

 

The number 56 by itself above: BL 146 531 D6 as far as I can make out.

 

Barry

[Loose cog]

Thanks Loose cog,

There is a number on the bb, no idea what it might mean.

The number 56 by itself above: BL 146 531 D6 as far as I can make out.

Barry

There are clever people out there who can assist but the no 56 would be the size of the frame, BL for maker, Bill Lange, the no 146 could be number of frames made and 531 is the steel steel type. D6 is probably the date manufactured D for 4 (1984?) and 6 (June). Hope it helps

Edited January 8, 2016 by Loose cog

[DJR]

I'm starting to sound like a broken record (retro in itself, I know)but this REALLY is a fantastic thread! Always something new to learn from people willing to share freely! Cool!!

[Loose cog]

I'm starting to sound like a broken record (retro in itself, I know)but this REALLY is a fantastic thread! Always something new to learn from people willing to share freely! Cool!!

Just don't mention that you sometimes take a ride without a helmet. Boy did I get a bollocking. Too many death threats and lots of verbal abuse from the fashion conscience bikers! SA is a weird place and not very tolerant of any one that doesn't follow the herd.

Edited January 8, 2016 by Loose cog

[Barry_W]

That bike is a keeper.

Bill Lange made about 200 custom, bespoke frames. The frames that you will find will more often than not be very large frames or very small. He is considered one of SA's best frame builders.

The one LooseCog gave me is made from Reynolds 653 tubing.

 

The name De'Lange is a play on words. It's actually a name of a Col in France, the Col de Lange (say with French accent). The meaning of the word (loosely translated) means mountain of angels,or something to that effect. If you look closely at the logo/crest headbadge you will see it looks like an angel. Angel wings and a chainring as a halo. The legendary Ron Thompson was involved with Bill and came up with the logo/badge and the name del'ange. I bought a set of original decals from Ron a whole ago. I now need to restore the frame.

 

Wow, thanks for the history quintonb,

 

I see the angel now it's a great story.

 

It really is a beautiful frame and the paint job is deluxe, and the decals are deep in the clear coat. Mine is 56cm seat tube and 56cm top tube so must have been a custom build as Morph mentioned.

 

Barry

[Barry_W]

There are clever people out there who can assist but the no 56 would be the size of the frame, BL for maker, Bill Lange, the no 146 could be number of frames made and 531 is the steel steel type. D6 is probably the date manufactured D for 4 (1984?) and 6 (June). Hope it helps

Thanks Loose cog, that makes sense.

[quintonb]

Wow, thanks for the history quintonb, I see the angel now it's a great story. It really is a beautiful frame and the paint job is deluxe, and the decals are deep in the clear coat. Mine is 56cm seat tube and 56cm top tube so must have been a custom build as Morph mentioned. Barry

Bill Lange only made custom frames. He never made production frames. So every Delange you ever come across will have been made for a specific person.

This is what makes them so great...

Hence Bill only ever making around 200. All bespoke made to order.

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Perhaps Mercer frames will have the same custom allure in 30yrs time.........

[HeyYou]

Hi Retro Hubbers,

 

I bought a South African made De'Lange and am trying to find out more info than I could get off the web. It has a Reynolds 531 frame and Reynolds 708 fork which seems unusual.

 

The bike is quite rusted stored outside, but has a really cool 80's style paint job and when `I removed a sticker on the top tube I discovered a decal with the name Trevor Styles. I don't know if this is a personal bike or a model name? Any ideas?

 

I would like to date it as well, I am thinking late 80's early 90's.

 

Any info or speculation would be great.

 

Barry

 

 

Very, very nice bike Barry and as others have said, a keeper, FOR SURE.

 

QB has given you more history than I can, I've learned something too, thanks QB.

 

I think your frame is a bit later than mid 80s though, sorry LC!

 

Three things.

The Reynolds decals are of a type used post 1989 and 708 was not used much after the 80s.

Seat stays are 'tig' welded to the seat tube, something very, very unusual in the 80s.

Cable routing hidden in the top tube, only really became fashionable in late 80s.

 

So, IMHO your frame is probably very late 80s to early 90s, my guess would be early 90s.

 

But if I were you, I'd google the original owner, or ask Morph if he still knows him, and find out the exact history of your frame.

 

Always nice to know the history.

[Fixer]

Very, very nice bike Barry and as others have said, a keeper, FOR SURE.

 

QB has given you more history than I can, I've learned something too, thanks QB.

 

I think your frame is a bit later than mid 80s though, sorry LC!

 

Three things.

The Reynolds decals are of a type used post 1989 and 708 was not used much after the 80s.

Seat stays are 'tig' welded to the seat tube, something very, very unusual in the 80s.

Cable routing hidden in the top tube, only really became fashionable in late 80s.

 

So, IMHO your frame is probably very late 80s to early 90s, my guess would be early 90s.

 

But if I were you, I'd google the original owner, or ask Morph if he still knows him, and find out the exact history of your frame.

 

Always nice to know the history.

You could also try getting hold of Bill. He lives in Randpark Ridge JHB. Ron will have his tell number.

[HeyYou]

Thank you HeyYou

 

What did we do with the left levers?

 

Going to place order immediately for the Cinelli head badge!

 

Regards the seized cable in the shifter lever. I had a similar problem and couldn't use the cable as it was seriously rusty. 

 

Took my Dremel with micro drill bit and drilled into lead cap. Used larger drill bit thereafter until close to lever housing. I then used engraving tip and ground out the balance of the tip. Careful as a few cable wires may be present.

 

Once that was done I drilled a small hole through a bit of flat wood and inserted the cable through the hole and placed the wood into my vice. The lever attached by the cable on the one side and the rest of cable fed through the hole on the other. Took the loose cable and attached to larger cable attached to towbar. Got the missus to pull off. Cable pulled out of hole and lever undamaged. 

 

Thanks LC

 

I've done most of this, but I'm afraid I've made it worse!!!!! There's no cable left, there was only a very short piece to begin with, but I've destroyed that

 

I need to start again, look at the blooming thibg for a while and I'm sure somehing will come to me.

[HeyYou]

Thank you HeyYou

 

What did we do with the left levers?

 

Going to place order immediately for the Cinelli head badge!

 

Regards the seized cable in the shifter lever. I had a similar problem and couldn't use the cable as it was seriously rusty. 

 

Took my Dremel with micro drill bit and drilled into lead cap. Used larger drill bit thereafter until close to lever housing. I then used engraving tip and ground out the balance of the tip. Careful as a few cable wires may be present.

 

Once that was done I drilled a small hole through a bit of flat wood and inserted the cable through the hole and placed the wood into my vice. The lever attached by the cable on the one side and the rest of cable fed through the hole on the other. Took the loose cable and attached to larger cable attached to towbar. Got the missus to pull off. Cable pulled out of hole and lever undamaged. 

 

Thanks LC

 

I've done most of this, but I'm afraid I've made it worse!!!!! There's no cable left, there was only a very short piece to begin with, but I've destroyed that

 

I need to start again, look at the blooming thing for a while and I'm sure somehing will come to me.

[Loose cog]

Heads up! Solomon's Woodmead have a few 32 hole Mavic MA3's available.

 

Edited January 11, 2016 by Loose cog

[BenReaper]

Not sure if this belongs here,but I had the privalage of meeting this beauty a couple of weeks ago.

[HeyYou]

I've been thinking of this for a while, but now seems a good time to get it going, as a couple of other Hubbers have expressed similar ideas.

 

Quite a few of us order replacement decals from overseas, at a cost of between $40 and $70 ------  so around R850, which is quite and a bit, if you have 2, 3 or 4 bikes to refurbish.

 

For example, over the last year I've bought decals for a GIOS Torino, Colnago Mexico, Merckx Record, Alan, Pinna Montello and Cilo. This has cost me a small fortune.

 

I know we can have them made up locally, at much more reasonable prices.But without reference sizes, colours etc., local manufacturing is dicey, slightly wrong font, colour, size, anything.

 

My suggestion is that we build our own database of decal specifications.

 

There are a couple of ways to skin this cat!

 

Firstly, anyone with 'loose' decals can scan, copy them, with a size reference (ruler alongside and above) and take pics, to show colours. 

 

I will do this to all mine.

 

Secondly, we could make tracings of decals off bikes we have. Copies of these will be to size and if accompanied by pics, would act as templates. This may sound like a lot of work and it probably is, but if we divvy it up, say I do Vitus 992 and LC does Vitus 979 and someone else something else.

 

Otherwise, a third option would be to build this up slowly. If someone wants a set of decals, they ask on here and if I have, I'll trace and take pics etc. If I don't have, maybe someone else will.

 

AND WE CAN ACCOMPANY ALL THIS WITH PICS OFF THE INTERWEBS.

 

My main concern is to try and save $, as the R slowly sinks to join the Titanic.

 

 

 

However, there is the thorny question of where, or who, becomes the curator of this database. I have spoken to Johnny Koen and he is keen to hold them. But there's also Tyrone, so maybe keeping them open source would be ideal.

 

Or, you could even keep your own and share if you want to.

 

Whatever, I think it's an idea worth pursuing!!!!!!!

Edited January 14, 2016 by HeyYou